Blank punching apparatus

ABSTRACT

A turret-type punch press is provided with a blank collection and side ejection mechanism to segregate blanks, i.e., the finished products, from slugs, i.e., waste products. The blanks are pushed from out beneath the die by a reciprocable pusher and ejected into a discharge chute. A hollow cylinder supporting the lower turret at the punching station is provided with an opening of a diameter large enough to accommodate the largest slug to be punched but the opening is considerably smaller than the blanks to be cut and thus minimizes the area that the lower turret is unsupported.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,839,935 Daniels Oct. 8, 1974 1 1 BLANKPUNCHING APPARATUS Prima Examiner-J. M. Meister 751 t:D DalBll ,Wh. rynven or enms me e evue as Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Seed, Berry, Vernon &[73] Assignee: U.S. Amada Ltd., Seattle, Wash. B h

' d: .1. ,1 73 [22] File Jan 5 9 ABSTRACT [21] Appl' 323,413 Aturret-type punch press is provided with a blank collection and sideejection mechanism to segregate [52] us. Cl 83/104, 83/160, 83/165,blanks, the finished products, from Slugs, 33/552 waste products. Theblanks are pushed from out be- 51 1m. 01 B26f 1/04 Heath the die y areciprocable pusher and ejwed 58 Field of Search 83/102, 104, 158-460,into a discharge chute- A hollow cylinder Supporting 3 1 5 1 552 thelower turret at the punching station is provided with an opening of adiameter large enough to accom- [56] R f n C d modate the largest slugto be punched but the opening UNITED STATES PATENTS is considerablysmaller than the blanks to be cut and 2,701,017 2/1955 Wiedemann 83/552X gii i the area that the lower turret 1S unsup' 3,138,322 6/1964Orlando 83/552 X p 3,323,400 6/1967 Thompson 83/160 6 Claims, 5 DrawingFigures r12 M r 2 BLANK PUNCHING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention pertains toturret-type punch presses and, more particularly, to multiple toolturret-type punch presses which include a conventional array of punchingtools and blanking tools.

2. Description of the Prior Art Turret-type punch presses employrotatable upper and lower turrets with the upper turret supporting avariety of punches and the lower turret supporting a variety ofcorresponding dies. Beneath the lower turret is a hollow cylindricalmember which supports the lower turret. The turret support is providedwith a slug discharge passage for ejection of slugs cut by the varioustools. I-Ieretofore those turrets containing a blanking tool ejected theblanks downwardly through the slug discharge passage of the turretsupport thus mixing the slugs (wasted material) with the blanks(finished prod ucts) and required time-consuming and costly manualseparation of the slugs and blanks.

In addition, the slug passage opening in the lower turret supportingmember was of necessity provided with an opening large enough to receivethe largest blank to be punched. If the blank diameter was extremelylarge, then the opening in the lower turret supporting member wascorrespondingly large and left a considerable unsupported span on thelower turret. Since this weakened the overall strength of the machine,the blanking dies sizes had to be reduced or the lower turretundesirably thickened.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide aturrettype punching apparatus with a blank collecting and dischargingmechanism which segregates the blanks from the slugs.

It is another object of this invention to provide a lower turret on arotatable turret-type punch press with means for collecting severalblanks and discharging them from the side of the turret along a pathseparated from the discharge path of the slugs.

It is another object of this invention to provide a turret-type punchpress with conventional punching and blanking tools and with a lowerturret supporting member having a minimum sized opening to accommodatethe discharge of slugs only.

Basically these objects are accomplished by providing rotatable upperand lower turrets respectively carrying punches and dies, one of whichis a blanking punch and die and positionable at a punching station onthe apparatus. The lower turret is supported by a member which isprovided with a slug discharge passage. In the preferred embodiment, theslug discharge passage is smaller than the blanking die opening so thatthe unsupported span of the lower turret is minimized. The blankspunched by the blanking tool are collected and discharged along a pathseparate from the slugs so that they remain segregated from the slugsduring the punching operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of apunching apparatus embodying the principles of the invention with partsbroken away for clarity.

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line 22 of FIG. ll.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation taken along the line 4-4 of FIG.1 with parts broken away for clarity.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary illustration of a typical workpiece from whichblanks and slugs are cut along the lines illustrated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The punching apparatusincludes a frame 10 on which is rotatably mounted an upper turret l2 andlower turret 14. The upper turret includes a plurality of various typesof punches 16 including a blanking punch 18. The lower turret carries aplurality of corresponding dies 20 including a blanking die 22. As iswell known, the turrets are rotated together to position the varioustools beneath a ram striker 24 at a punching station. A worksheet W ispositionable between the turrets. A typical rotatable turret-typepunching apparatus suitable for use in this invention, is illustrated inUS. Pat. No. 3,685,380, entitled MULTI-TRACK TUR- RET AND OVERLOADPROTECTION.

As is well known in blanking operations, a workpiece is divided intomultiple parts or blanks B which are separated from the workpiece afterfirst punching the slugs S from the workpiece. As best shown in FIG. 1,the blanks are collected and discharged or ejected to the side of theturret whereas the slugs fall downwardly and are discharged below theturret. Obviously, other ejection techniques are possible with theimportant concept being that the slugs and blanks are segregated at thetime of punching.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional blanking punch 18 having a stripper 30and a punch body 31. The die 22 is provided with a die body 34 and a dieholder 36. In the preferred embodiment, the die has a removable section38 which can be pivoted open about a pivot 39 to release the die body.

The die holder 36 is provided with an ejection channel or passage 40 forside discharge of the blanks B. The upper surface of the lower turretbeneath the channel 40 is provided with guide tracks 42. A slider 44 isreciprocably mounted on the guide tracks and is connected to the pistonrod of a pneumatic cylinder 46. As is readily apparent, extension of thepiston rod will push a blank or a stack of blanks through the channel 34and into a blank discharge chute 46. In the preferred form, operation ofthe air cylinder is programmed to operate by tape command every 5 or 10blanking strokes to thus eject several blanks simultaneously.

The lower turret 14 is supported from the base frame 10 by a turretsupport 50. In the: preferred form, the support is provided with a slugpassage 52. Slugs fall through the slug passage 52 and through anopening 54 in the frame 10. Preferably the slugs are then collected on adischarge chute 56 and allowed to slide away from the punching apparatuswhere they are finally collected at a location separate from thedischarge of the chute 46.

As is best shown in FIG. 4, the lower turret 14 is unsupported in thearea overlying the slug passage 52. It can be readily seen that thestrength of the lower turret is dependent upon the amount of supportreceived by the turret support 50 and that the larger the unsupportedarea, the weaker the turret. In this invention the segregation of blanksfrom the slug, allows the slug passage 52 to be no larger than themaximum slug size to be punched. In one embodiment, for example, thisdiameter is 4 /2 inches whereas the blanking die diameter is 6 inches.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, it should be understood that variations and modificationswill be apparent to one skilled in the art without departing from theprinciples of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to belimited to the specific form illustrated.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. Apparatus for punching large product blanks at a punching station ina turret-type punch press comprising a frame, an upper rotatable turreton the frame having a plurality of tools, one of which is a productblanking punch, positionable at said punching station, a lower rotatableturret on the frame having a plurality of dies corresponding to saidpunches and positionable at said punching station, means on said frameat said punching station for supporting the lower turret and forreceiving scrap slugs punched from said worksheet by said tools, andmeans independent of said scrap slug receiving means for removingproduct blanks punched through said blanking die without the productblanks passing to said scrap slug receiving means for segregating theproduct blanks from the scrap slugs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, said product blank removing means includingejector means for pushing the product blanks radially outwardly of theturret.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, said product blank removing means includinga discharge chute for receiving the ejected product blanks and carryingthe product blanks away from the lower turret.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, said ejector means including a pneumaticram, a slider connected to said ram and having lower guide surfaces,guide tracks on said lower turret engageable by said guide surfaces forguiding said slider against said product blanks and out from beneathsaid lower turret.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, said lower turret supporting meansincluding a scrap slug discharge opening for receiving said scrap slugs.said product blanking die having an opening for cutting the productblanks, said scrap slug discharge opening being considerably smallerthan said die opening whereby the unsupported span of the lower turretoverlying said slug opening is minimized.

6. Apparatus for punching product blanks at a punching station in aturret-type punch press comprising a frame, an upper rotatable turret onthe frame having a plurality of tools, one of which is a productblanking punch, positionable at said punching station, a lower rotatableturret on the frame having a plurality of dies corresponding to saidpunches and positionable at said punching station, scrap slug collectingmeans, means on said frame at said punching station-for sup porting thelower turret and for passing the scrap slugs punched from said worksheetby said tools to said scrap slug collecting means, and means forcollecting product blanks independent of said scrap slug collectingmeans.

1. Apparatus for punching large product blanks at a punching station ina turret-type punch press comprising a frame, an upper rotatable turreton the frame having a plurality of tools, one of which is a productblanking punch, positionable at said punching station, a lower rotatableturret on the frame having a plurality of dies corresponding to saidpunches and positionable at said punching station, means on said frameat said punching station for supporting the lower turret and forreceiving scrap slugs punched from said worksheet by said tools, andmeans independent of said scrap slug receiving means for removingproduct blanks punched through said blanking die without the productblanks passing to said scrap slug receiving means for segregating theproduct blanks from the scrap slugs.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, saidproduct blank removing means including ejector means for pushing theproduct blanks radially outwardly of the turret.
 3. The apparatus ofclaim 2, said product blank removing means including a discharge chutefor receiving the ejected product blanks and carrying the product blanksaway from the lower turret.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, said ejectormeans including a pneumatic ram, a slider connected to said ram andhaving lower guide surfaces, guide tracks on said lower turretengageable by said guide surfaces for guiding said slider against saidproduct blanks and out from beneath said lower turret.
 5. The apparatusof claim 1, said lower turret supporting means including a scrap slugdischarge opening for receiving said scrap slugs, said product blankingdie having an opening for cutting the product blanks, said scrap slugdischarge opening being considerably smaller than said die openingwhereby the unsupported span of the lower turret overlying said slugopening is minimized.
 6. Apparatus for punching product blanks at apunching station in a turret-type punch press comprising a frame, anupper rotatable turret on the frame having a plurality of tools, one ofwhich is a product blanking punch, positionable at said punchingstation, a lower rotatable turret on the frame having a plurality ofdies corresponding to said punches and positionable at said punchingstation, scrap slug collecting means, means on said frame at saidpunching station for supporting the lower turret and for passing thescrap slugs punched from said worksheet by said tools to said scrap slugcollecting means, and means for collecting product blanks independent ofsaid scrap slug collecting means.